We're right into the middle of winter now and unlike last year, this time it's quite cold with overnight temperatures in the Midlands (where I'm moored) dropping as low as -7C. So although I've talked about my stove and the radiator system before, this is a dedicated video on the subject of narrowboat heating including various types of stove, diesel-fired radiators and insulation. Plus - there's a very special guest apppearance from Mads and Jökull from Sail Life!

Oh the weather outside is frightful ... but hopefully it'll be much nicer in the Spring so I've begun planning my adventures for this year and this video is the gist of my musings. The video features amazing high--calibre cartography much like last year!

Can a decently-sized solar array provide enough power for day to day living on a narrowboat during the winter? There'll be sunny days, there'll be cloudy days, there'll be rainy days and maybe even snow - but can the panels pull in the power? In this video, I do some sums.

What's it like to go out shopping for a second-hand narrowboat at a brokerage? In this video I accompany a viewer, Paul Bush, on his journey to ABNB at Crick (where I bought my boat) and chat with him as he looks over two possible canal boats.

I've had a few people ask how you get TV while out and about on the canals on a narrowboat so here is my quick guide to watching telly. It's mostly just like watching TV at home but you have to muck about with the aerial when you move the boat.

With only a few weeks to go until I set off on my Grand Spring Tour, I've decided to go through the boat and check I've got everything I think I have. So in this video I'm rummaging around in the port side well deck locker and taking stock of what's what. I'll do the starboard side locker in the next vlog!

There is a surprising amount of unused bits of canal across the UK, in varying states of decay. In this vlog I take a look at two separate (but geographically near) projects which are digging out and restoring parts of the original route of the North Oxford canal. It has, quite literally, taken me months to film this one as the I had to shoot on several occasions at the second location so I do hope you like it!

Cast your mind back to the videos I did about buying a narrowboat and you may recall a brief mention of "share ownership" - that's what this vlog is about. How do you own part of a boat, who else owns it, and how does the system work when it comes to using the boat?

What better day than April 1st to upload a new item for the channel, in which I take a look at some top news stories that might be doing the rounds about narrowboating and the UK canals. Ahem.

It's time for my 2017 Grand Tour to begin! Firstly I had to put in to Hillmorton Wharf for a fix of my leaking fuel pipes on the boat's Lister Petter LPWS4 engine, then it was off - very gently - to Braunston. This'll be a bit of an amble for the first few days as I'm scheduled to meet someone at Kilby near Leicester in the middle of the month.

It's time to move the narrowboat on from Crick and I'm heading north up the Grand Union Leicester line to Kilby (via the always impressive Foxton locks). Once there I'll wait for some friends to join me for the next stage of this year's trip.

After much anticipation, and a cruise up to Kilby from Braunston, I am finally ready to attack my first river on the narrowboat. It's the River Soar which runs through Leicester and I'm being joined by another boat to ease my fears of river boating.

In which I continue in convoy with another narrowboat up the River Soar through Leicestershire, going from Birstall to Loughborough which is a place of Special Memories for me.

My voyage down the River Soar in Leicestershire continues, this time going from Loughborough up to Ratcliffe lock. On the way we - me and my convoy pals Alan, Wendy and the dogs Max and Monty - encounter Many Interesting Things.

Here it is, the big crescendo to the River Soar trip - coming out at the end where it meets the Trent. Then I turn onto the Trent, and head onto the Trent & Mersey canal for continuing my Big 2017 Tour.

In this vlog I bid farewell to Alan, Wendy and the dogs Max and Monty, and continue along the Trent and Mersey canal encountering a large plastic bag around my propellor, a lot of shallow canal edges and some quite pretty countryside too.

As I continue along the Trent & Mersey canal on my narrowboat, I need to get some coal - the early April evenings are still a bit chilly sometimes - as well as kindling, a new Calor gas cylinder and most vitally of all, do a load of laundry. So I stop at Barton Turns marina for those essentials as well as popping into PC World in Burton-on-Trent for a portable hard disc to offload loads of old vlogs onto; my poor old laptop is filling up!

After a couple of days in the rather lovely village of Alrewas I take the boat further along the Trent & Mersey canal to Fradley Junction, where it meets the top of the Coventry Canal. From the CRT cafe, I buy and enjoy a nice slice of lemon drizzle cake. Yum.

In this vlog, I move on from Fradley Junction, take a sharp 90 degree turn to the right and start heading North West, still on the Trent and Mersey canal, up towards Shugborough. En route, I get a haircut in Rugeley, go past the Staffs and Worcester canal at Great Haywood, and despair of the plastic waste drifting along the canal.

After spending the night at the village of Barlaston, I'm ready to go through the substantial town of Stoke-on-Trent, past the CRT facilities yard at Etruria and on towards the southern portal of the infamous Harecastle tunnel.

It's finally time for me to face me greatest canal tunnel fear and go through the (almost 3,000 yard long) Harecastle tunnel. It's wide enough only for one boat and has partially collapsed in the middle so headroom is extremely limited and all boats are checked before they enter (and counted in and out by dedicated tunnel-keepers). Here goes!

Continuing my narrowboat journey on the Trent and Mersey canal, tackling the many locks of "Heartbreak Hill" as you start heading away from Kidsgrove and out into the countryside through Rode Heath and Hassall Green.

Taking the narrowboat up to and through Middlewich and out the other side.

Several people suggested that as I was going all the way up to Middlewich I ought to go that little bit further north and visit the Anderton Boat Lift, an amazing engineering structure dating from 1875, which lifts boats from the Trent and Mersey canal down to the River Weaver and vice versa. So I did.

In which I continue my return trip to Middlewich but then do a 90 degree right turn onto the Middlewich branch of the Shropshire Union canal, get some fuel and fenders from a fuelboat, go all the way along to Barbridge and turn left onto the Shroppie, and past the entrance to the Llangollen canal.

An episode in which I spot an escaped cow, a swan hinders my progress and I send a hireboater to their doom.

Continuing down the Shropshire Union canal and going under an awful lot of bridges. I mean, a really amazing number in quick succession including one very well-known one. Plus a water refill and a bit of stickiness as I try to be a good boater.

High drama in this video as I become a sitting target for oncoming boats, stuck under a bridge when my propellor picks up something large and unpleasant.

After the fun and frolics of the Boat-Tubers' Christmas meal, we all decided to meet up again for a summer barbecue. By boat, train and car we all congregated a nice convenient spot in the Midlands and ate sausages. This is a very adhoc record of some of the afternoon.

My journey down the Staffs & Worcester canal continues, picking up from Compton where I moored at the end of the last vlog, and heading south through Kidderminster and eventually ending up in Stourport.

Moving on from Kinver, through Kidderminster in the rain and onto Stourport, also in the rain. Most of this vlog is about rain which may explain why it's so short.

At last there's a sunny day and despite the wind it's time to take the narrowboat off the canal and onto the mighty River Severn. Eventually I'll go to Tewkesbury but today it's only to the entrance of the Droitwich Barge Canal at Hawford Junction.

Moving the narrowboat from the top of lock 2 on the Droitwich Barge canal (near Hawford Junction) and up to Droitwich Spa itself. I end up on the visitor moorings at Netherwich basin and go for a walk around Vines Park.

After 48 hours on the visitor mooring at Netherwich Basin in Droitwich Spa, I reversed my path up the Droitwich Barge Canal and headed back out downstream on the River Severn.

Here's a quick overview of the hasty oil and filter change that I did on the boat while waiting at Tewkesbury lock for the lock-keeper to return from lunch (as seen at the end of the last vlog).

This is the start of my trip up the River Avon from Tewkesbury to Stratford-upon-Avon. In this episode I leave Tewkesbury and go past three sailing clubs as well as the mooring our family used to use at Bredon, before tackling two ferocious locks and mooring for the night in a tranquil corner of the countryside at Comberton Quay.

Here's a vlog of two more days of cruising up the Avon, from Comberton Quay where the last vlog ended, through Pershore and Evesham, and up to Offenham. I went through a lot of locks, all of which were rather turbulent and one of which had a puzzle to keep you guessing.

Filmed way, way back in the dizzying summer scorcher of mid-June, this is the final section of my trip up the River Avon in Warwickshire, from Offenham lock (where the last vlog ended), to the canal basin at Stratford-upon-Avon.

On a glorious day in mid-June I departed from the canal basin at Stratford-upon-Avon and headed north up the South Stratford canal. En route I ducked under low tunnels, breathed in for narrow bridges, held my breath on an aqueduct, saw some unusual wildlife and showed off my pasty white legs. All of those treats are included in the video.

It's the penultimate vlog from my Great 2017 Cruise and a short hop up the South Stratford canal from Preston Bagot, through Lowsonford and up to Kingswood Junction at Lapworth. Here I turned east along the Lapworth Link and out onto the Grand Union canal before pausing for the night.

My massive 2017 cruise around the canals of England is drawing to a close and in this episode I take on the massive 21-lock Hatton flight again - this time with a Special Guest Crew.

Over the summer I noticed that in heavy rain there was a slight trickly of water coming down the stove flue. It appeared to be getting in underneath the chimney collar so I had to take it off, clean everything up, de-rust and re-seal. This video shows how I did it and how it was a bigger job than expected.

Time for another fireside chat as I sit down and answer (the first tranche of) questions submitted by viewers after I recently said a Q&A was in the offing. This covers topics including bow thrusters, lift bridges and tunnel lights amongst many others.

With my summer canal cruising for 2017 all complete, in this video I sit down by the roaring stove and give a general update on where I am, what I'm up to on the narrowboat and what's coming in future vlogs.

It really is that simple - a Happy Christmas message from me and a load of "boat-tubers", who all assembled - much like the Avengers but with boats - at the Admiral Nelson pub in Braunston at the start of December.

A bit of DIY and a product review in this video as I think back to when I was moored over the summer and took the cratch cover off, firstly to kill off the algae growing on it (courtesy a free review product from Kinver Canopies, who nonetheless had no say in the editorial content of my review), secondly to clean it, and thirdly to re-waterproof the canvas.